


An arduous job

by astracrits



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Gen, Slight Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28922820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astracrits/pseuds/astracrits
Summary: As always, Frederick is the most hardworking soldier in the camp, but not only that. He wil go to extremes that can make others break.
Kudos: 2





	An arduous job

**Author's Note:**

> This was for a zine called Id Serenity on twitter! :D If you want to follow me for more writing content or othe

_ If someone were to ask me, “How much time have you worked for the Ylissean royal family?” I would simply reply that it’s been years, and I would say it proudly. Working for milord Chrom is the most honest, best work a man like me can do, and I would gladly give up my life for him, and for milady Lissa. _

Frederick walked through the camp, eyes carefully checking for any pebbles on the ground that could hinder and potentially trip someone if they weren’t careful. He kneeled next to some boxes and picked up a medium-sized stone.

“Tch,” said Frederick, rolling the stone between his fingers as he looked at it with a disapproving face. “Pebbles like this can cause quite a harm.”

He stood upright, then he had to roll his neck around a couple of times. He’d been feeling a bit of tension around the area lately, but nothing he couldn’t handle with a small neck exercise.

After feeling a bit of ease, he continued on his way. The small bag of rocks he carried with himself clinked with each step, but each clink was also a small victory for himself. No one worked as hard as Frederick, everybody knew that.

“Nice training, boys.” He watched the small circle of soldiers clashing swords, lances and axes. Their form wasn’t proper, and it was clear that they needed a lot more training if they were going to make Ylisse and the Shepherds proud. “But you’re doing it incorrectly, allow me to demonstrate.”

He walked towards the circle, snatching the axe from a soldier that was just standing around. He assumed a combat position and demonstrated a few practice slashes. “If you let the weight of the axe control you, then you’re not doing it correctly. The axe is heavy, sure, but you have to guide it and let the weight fly to where you want it to.”

Frederick beckoned at one of soldiers holding a sword, meaning to tell him that they were going to spar. He didn’t say anything, only letting his actions demonstrate what he wanted to convey.

He dodged to the side, he swung his axe with such ease that all of the soldiers were surprised that he was able to handle a massive weapon with only one hand. Frederick stepped to the side and counterattacked, his footwork was simply amazing. A knight riding on horseback needed to learn how to fight without one too, so fighting on foot was second nature to him as well.

As this was just a demonstration of a few skills instead of a mock battle or an actual fight, Frederick decided to finish it quickly. It wasn’t that he wanted to—training his soldiers was the duty of a general—he wanted to end it because he was starting to feel a little weird. With just a hit from the flat side of his weapon, it was over. The soldiers cheered for the general, they voiced their multiple compliments about his fighting skill, and they also thanked him for being such a good teacher.

Frederick smiled, though it only lasted a couple of seconds. A stinging sensation pinched him on his back. “Ugh…” he whispered, trying not to change his face so as not to worry his soldiers.

_ What is this… feeling? It’s like I’m being stabbed multiple times all over. _

The general moved from the training circle quickly. It was getting a little hard to breathe, and tension was building up on his shoulders, but he didn’t want anybody seeing him. Frederick would never want his soldiers to view him as weak, or to even demonstrate that.

He ended up behind a random tent, hidden from everybody. He placed his hand on a box to stabilize himself. It was then that he realized that he was clenching his teeth hard. “What’s happening to me?” he asked in a low voice that sounded more like a growl.

“Frederick?” Came a voice from the other side of the tent.  _ Oh no…  _ “Is that you?”

Henry walked around the tent, a crow was perched on his shoulder, it looked around the barracks, as if it had been there for a long time now. “What’s wrong, Freddy?”

“I’m sorry to bother you, Henry. I just feel a bit… never mind, nothing’s wrong.” He tried with all his might to assume his usual posture despite the heavy weight on his shoulders. “Please, return to your duties.”

Though Henry wasn’t believing it, and the crow screeched as if to agree with him. “Nope, it’s easy seeing that you’re stressed!” He got a little closer, standing on his tiptoes to take a better look at his face, even though it was still a big size difference between the two. “You haven’t been sleeping well either, have you? You’re even shaking!”

He was right. Frederick didn’t even notice it, but he couldn’t stay still even if he tried his hardest. He brought his hands up to see them, they were shaking so much it terrified him for a moment. “Stress? That cannot be. I do everything that I can do to avoid it, I maintain a positive attitude, I manage my times so well, I even exercise a lot. It cannot be stress.”

“Everybody can see you’re gigantic, Fred. You’re the buffest guy I know.” Henry didn’t lie. Frederick’s muscles were so big he often thought of them as pillows, but that wasn’t the case right now. “Do you want me to hex you so you sleep a little? I don’t guarantee you’ll wake up from it though.” He added a smile to his words.

He couldn’t hide it anymore, Frederick was feeling so bad right then that he had to double up from the pain in his body. “Urk.” He was sweating cold now and his heart was racing. “I appreciate the help but… I don’t… need… it.”

“Whatever you say, general.” Henry made a playful salute, then he immediately left running, the crow flying in tow with him.

Frederick wiped his forehead with his hand a little too hard, it caused him dizziness, or maybe that was the stress as well. It was funny how stupid it was. Frederick could handle lots of things at the same time, separately, whatever was thrown at him, he was able to do an amazing job. Not being able to handle a bit of stress? Disgraceful, pathetic, embarrassing.

_ What would milord Chrom say if he saw me like this? He would immediately fire me from service. _

He took some steps forward with some trouble, it was as if the armor was gaining more and more weight as every second passed. In a relatively short time, he was unable to walk at all, Frederick could only stand still…

Until he no longer could.

_ Ugh… Now I’ve done it. Someone is gonna find me here now and think I am slacking off. Not at all, Frederick does not slack off. It is worrying that I passed out like this though, it never crossed my mind that I would faint due to stress. I thought I was handling things very well; I kept active, I ate my meals, sure, that bear was horrible and I will never eat meat like that again but… other stuff I could enjoy. I always made time for training and yes, my duties to lord Chrom come before anything else, but those weren’t too overwhelming. I wonder why this happened. _

“Ah!” Frederick awakened with a gasp. His heart was thumping wildly against his chest. He was inside his tent, in the encampment of the Shepherds. His armor had been discarded, leaving him only in his pajama pants and bare chest covered by some fluffy sheets. His hair was dishevelled and part of it was plastered to his forehead due to the sweat.

He looked around, yet there wasn’t anybody inside the small tent, only him, resting with the small openings for makeshift windows covered so that no sun could disturb him. The man moved the sheets and stood up.

Chrom and Lissa entered the tent as soon as they heard movement. “Frederick!” said the prince, kneeling right next to him, placing his hands on his chest and pressing so he wouldn’t move. “Are you alright?”

Lissa moved behind him, squeezing his shoulders at once. “Yeah, we found you unconscious behind one of the tents, we thought someone had attacked you!”

She wasn’t just squeezing him, it was a massage, Frederick realized. “milord, milady…” he had to look away, he was embarrassed about what happened. “To think that you would find me in such a state, it’s a disgrace.”

“Frederick…” Chrom said with a disapproving voice, he shook his head then. “Do I really overwork you so much?”

At that, the general was struck with fear and pain. “No, milord, absolutely not! All the work I do for you, I do with pride and with everything that I have.”

Lissa slapped him on the back of his head. “Don’t lie to us. We heard you mumbling some stuff while you were unconscious, about how you couldn’t believe you passed out due to the stress since you manage everything so well.”

A blush presented on Frederick’s face, his whole body went hot as well. “I… did not think I would voice my thoughts like that.”

Chrom gave him a soft smile. “Frederick… I’m so sorry this happened to you. We didn’t mean for you to have so much work. We should’ve been a little more considerate--”

“No!” interrupted the bigger man. “milord, these are my duties, you cannot--”

Then, Chrom interrupted him too. “This is an order.” When Frederick looked at him with a horrified face, he continued, “I’m sorry to do this, but it’s for your own good. I can’t have you fainting in the middle of the battlefield and knowing I was the cause of it.”

Frederick could only shake his head slowly. He was embarrassed, to him, it was as if his lord didn’t trust him enough to let him do his work. “I am a disgrace. I have failed you, milord.” He covered his face with his hands from the embarrassment, he couldn’t look his lord to the face.

Suddenly, the hugs came from both sides. “Don’t say that.” Chrom’s face was buried in his chest, while Lissa’s on his shoulder. “You might be working for us, but you’re our dear friend, Frederick, we don’t want to see you get hurt or suffer because of us.” They understood his thinking, they knew how the general wanted to live his life, but they would still do everything to ease his burden, even for a little bit.

Frederick could not bring himself to embrace his lord until he felt Chrom move his arms to hug him, after that, he held him tightly. “milord. I’m--” he couldn’t bear to apologize again. This would only go on forever, and he knew that Chrom was very, very stubborn. “Alright.”

“Yay!” Lissa squealed. The hug was over and she crawled to be in front of him. “I had someone cook a meal for you, we’re gonna pamper you all day long, and you better let us, you hear me?!”

The blush came again, but this time, it wasn’t because of embarrassment. It was a joyful blush.

“I would like that. But I promise you I will do my very best tomorrow. I cannot have milord and milady pampering me always. I should be the one to do so!”

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to see more writing content and other shenaningans, be sure to follow me on twitter! @astra_crits :D


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